Going into the 2018 Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL) campaign, the Rockyview Silvertips had high expectations for themselves after a 5-15 season the year prior, which caused them to miss the playoffs and finish last in their division. Head coach Tyler Waycott made it very clear during an interview prior to the season starting on April 27 that his team was going to be much tougher to play against. “We’ll be a quicker team (this year) than last year’s squad. Everybody is a little bit older, with another year under their belt … our returning players will have a little bit higher expectations from the coaching staff,” Waycott said during an April 5 interview. After a pair of weekend games on July 13 and 15, it's safe to say the Silvertips achieved most, if not all, the goals they set for themselves, boosting their record by six wins from last season to an 11-8-1 record good for a third seed berth to the playoffs. In the first game, the 'Tips hosted the Okotoks Marauders in a very close contest that needed overtime to settle the score. Rockyview got off to an early lead exactly five minutes into the game when Patrick Morrow fired a shot top corner while his team was shorthanded to give the Silvertips a 1-0 lead. The lead was short lived though as Okotoks tied the game at one just seven minutes after Morrow's marker it wasn't until the final 30 seconds that Silvertips sharpshooter Matthew Dyck regained the home team's lead pushing the score to 2-1 heading into the second period. The game looked like it would be a low-scoring defensive game after the first, but really opened up in the second frame with seven goals between the two teams. Dyck scored twice more to complete his hat trick with Colby Gulutzan and Alex Wiwcharuk adding goals helping the Silvertips take a 6-4 lead into the third. In the final period, Gulutzan added his second goal with Adam Bartolome also scoring but the Marauders scored four goals, forcing extra time. Fortunately for the 'Tips, the overtime period was kept to under two minutes after Griffen Hall fired a bullet past an unsuspecting Marauders' goalie giving Rockyview a 9-8 victory. Rockyview had a day off to rest and recover before facing off against the North Division-leading Edmonton Warriors. The 'Tips scored five goals in the first frame to Edmonton's three, off the sticks of Nolan Oakey as well as Matthew Dyck and Josh Halcro who both scored twice heading into the second and third. The wheels fell off for the 'Tips in the final two stanzas as they allowed six goals in the second and were outscored 9-4, giving the Warriors a 12-9 victory. Dyck finished his second consecutive hat trick, Oakey scored his second while Adam Bartolome and Logan Ellis also chipped in with goals in the loss. "The two games last weekend were both pretty physical games,” Morrison said. “One of the issues we had against Edmonton was our ball movement and getting inside to allow for high quality scoring chances.” The Silvertips will now take on the Calgary Chill in the first round of the RMLL playoffs in a best-of-three series with the winner taking on the first place Red Deer Rampage. Rockyview and Calgary both finished the season with 22 points, so Morrison expects this series to be very tightly contested. "It should be a good series. We’re expecting it to be pretty close, physical games that we’ll have to grind through to end,” Morrison said. “It’ll be a battle, especially with us being so closely matched with them in the standings.” Game 1 of the playoffs will take place July 20 in Calgary at Brentwood Arena with the game starting at 8:30 p.m. Game 2 will go the following day at 7 p.m. at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre. If needed, Game 3 will be July 22 back in Calgary with faceoff taking place at 7 p.m.
